China - Register for Income Tax

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Procedure

The income earner is the taxpayer of the individual income tax and the institution or individual who pays is the tax withholder. A taxpayer having wages or salaries from more than one source and without a tax withholder should file tax returns and pay tax on his own.

A tax withholder withholding tax payments and a taxpayer filing tax returns every month should hand the tax payments to the state treasury within the first seven days of the next month and provide the tax authorities with the tax returns forms.

Tax payable on wages and salaries should be assessed and levied every month and be handed to the state treasury by the tax withholder or taxpayer within the first seven days of the next month together with the tax return forms to the tax authorities. The payments of tax on the wages and salaries of special industries and trades may be assessed on a yearly basis and paid by monthly advances; the specific rules thereof should be formulated by the State Council.

The tax payable on the income from the production or business operation of an individual industrial or commercial business operator should be assessed on a yearly basis and paid by monthly advances by the taxpayer within the first seven days of the next month and the tax payable should be cleared at the end of the tax year with excess payment refunded and deficit made up by supplementary payment.

The tax payable on income derived from operations contracted or leased from an enterprise or undertaking should be assessed on a yearly basis and paid by the taxpayer to the state treasury within 30 days after the year-end and with the tax returns filed by the taxpayer to the tax authorities. The taxpayer who gets income from contracted or leased business operations on a number of occasions in a year should pay a tax advance payment within seven days after an income is obtained and clear the tax payable within three months after the year-end with the excess payment refunded and deficit made up by supplementary payment.

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Required Documents

• An industrial and commercial business license or other similar permit of business operation
• A contract, agreement and articles of association
• The unified organizational code
• The ID card, passport or other valid ID certificate of the legal representative, or responsible member of owner
• Other documents and information demanded by the tax authorities of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the State Council

Office Locations & Contacts

State Administration of Taxation
Address: Yangfangdian Road, Haidian District, on the 5th
Zip: 100038
Tel: 010-63417114
Website: http://www.chinatax.gov.cn

State Administration for Industry and Commerce People's Republic of China
Address: 8 Sanlihe Donglu, Xichengqu, Beijing, 100820, P. R. China
Phone: +86-10-68010463/68013447
Facsimile: +86-10-68010463/68013447
Email: [email protected]
Contact
Address

Eligibility

• Have an annual income of more than RMB120, 000
• Derive income from two or more places inside the PRC
• Derive income from sources outside the PRC
• Received taxable income for which there is no withholding agent
• Other conditions regulated by the State Council

Fees

Explain the fees structure which is required for obtaining the certificate/document.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Please explain processing time taken in obtaining the document/certificate.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

Whether a taxpayer is subject to IIT in China depends on income source and time period spent in China.

Income Source

China-sourced income refers to income paid by your employer (both domestic and foreign) during the period you provide services under your employment in China. Non-China sourced income refers to income received when you work outside the territory of China.

Time Period Spent in China

If you reside in China for less than 90 days (or 183 days for residents of countries that have signed a double taxation agreement with China) continuously or cumulatively during a calendar year, your only taxable income is the China-sourced income you receive from your Chinese employer. If you reside in China for more than 90 days (183 days) but less than one year, all of your China-sourced income would be subject to IIT, but you do not have to pay IIT on income derived from outside of China.

Residing in China for one calendar year means that, in a calendar year, temporary absences from China are less than 30 days continuously or 90 days altogether.

Individuals who reside in China for more than one year, but less than five years, are subject to IIT on all China-sourced income as well as foreign-sourced income borne by a China-based entity. Foreign individuals who reside in China for more than five years are taxed on their worldwide income.

Required Information

• The name and the number of the ID card, passport or other valid ID document of the institution, legal representative or owner
• The residence or business address
• The type of registration
• The accounting system
• The form of production and business operation
• The scope of production and operation
• The total amount of capital (fund), investment
• The term of production and operation
• The name and telephone number of the financial chief
• Other information specified by the State Administration of Taxation

Need for the Document

The individual income tax is a tax imposed on the taxable income derived by individuals (including 11 taxable items, such as the income from wages and salaries derived by the individuals, the income from production, operation derived by individual industrial and commercial households).

Individual income tax (IIT) is normally withheld from wages or salaries by employers and paid to the tax authorities on a monthly basis (within 15 days of the end of each month).

Information which might help

Individual income tax should be levied on the following categories of income:

• Income from wages and salaries;
• Income from production or business operation derived by individual industrial and commercial households;
• Income from contracted or leased operation of enterprises or institutions;
• Income from remuneration for personal services;
• Income from author's remuneration;
• Income from royalties;
• Income from interest, dividends and bonuses;
• Income from lease of property;
• Income from transfer of property;
• Contingent income; and
• Other income specified as taxable by the financial department of the State Council.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

An individual having residence in China or having resided in China for one year or more although without a permanent residence therein should pay individual income tax on income from inside and outside China in accordance with the provisions of the Law.

An individual who neither has residence nor lives in China or who has no residence and has lived in China for less than one year should pay individual income tax on income from inside China in accordance with the provisions of the Law.

External Links

Individual Income Tax Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Version of 2011)

Tax Law

State Administration for Industry and Commerce People's Republic of China

State Administration of Taxation of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of Commerce, the People's Republic of China

Tax Law

State Administration of Taxation

Others

A progressive tax rate of 7 levels from 3% to 45% is applied to the income from wages and salaries, a progressive tax rate of 5 levels from 5% to 35% is applied to the income from production and business and the income from contracted or leased operation of enterprises or undertakings derived by individual industrial and commercial households (note: which is similarly applied to the investors of sole proprietorship enterprises and partnership enterprises), and a flat tax rate of 20% is applied to all the other types of income. From September 1, 2011, in terms of the income from wages and salaries, the standard monthly deduction for expenses is increased from RMB 2000 to RMB 3500.

The prescribed time limit for paying individual income tax is as follows: the tax withheld by the withholding agent on monthly basis, and the tax to be paid by the self-reporting taxpayer on monthly basis, should be paid to the state treasury within the first 15 days of the following month; in terms of the income from production or business operation derived by individual industrial and commercial households, the tax payable should be computed on annual basis, and the provisional income tax should be paid in advance on a monthly basis, settled and